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Christian Democratic Union (CDU) candidate, conservative Kai Wegner, won the elections held on Sunday in Berlin for the renewal of the Chamber of Deputies, the parliament of the city, which is one of the German Lands. For the CDU, 28.2 percent and the 52 seats obtained yesterday are the best result of the last twenty years. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) of outgoing mayor Franziska Giffey and chancellor Olaf Scholz instead suffered a heavy defeat: for the SPD it is the worst result obtained in the city since the Second World War to date.
However, there is no guarantee that Wegner will become mayor or that the CDU will be part of the new local government. The current coalition formed by the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the left-wing party Die Linke has in fact maintained the majority in the Chamber of Deputies. Everything will depend on how the negotiations go in the coming days.
The CDU obtained about 28 percent of the vote, increasing the result of the 2021 elections by ten points, which was later canceled due to serious irregularities that prevented tens of thousands of citizens from voting. In second place came the Greens and the SPD, both at 18.4 percent.
Die Linke also fell, obtaining just over 12.5 per cent against 14.1 in 2021. The far-right nationalist AfD instead rose from around 8 to 9 per cent, while the liberals of the FDP did not pass the 5 percent threshold needed to win seats.
Despite the rather stark results, it is still unclear who will now lead the city government. While acknowledging defeat, the outgoing mayor (Giffey of the SPD) said her goal was to stay in government: “If we have the opportunity to lead an alliance we will also try to organize a stable political majority.”
However, the candidate of the Greens, Bettina Jarasch, could claim the position of mayor for herself and a leading role within the possible future coalition. However, he has not ruled out the formation of a government with the CDU, explaining that his party is ready and open to conduct “serious” negotiations on condition that the CDU is willing to make “strong concessions” especially in terms of the environment and mobility. After the results, CDU mayoral candidate Kai Wegner said his party had obtained a “clear government mandate” and would begin exploratory talks with other political forces in the next few hours.
German newspapers and political analysts are quite unanimous in attributing the defeat of the SPD, which has always had a great consensus in Berlin, to an administration that is ineffective and not very decisive with respect to problems such as the increase in rents in the city, the poor condition of school buildings and the backwardness of public transport. Like other local elections, Sunday’s elections were then seen as a bit of a test for Chancellor Scholz, whose popularity seems to be declining also due to the response, according to many weak and indecisive, to the invasion of Ukraine by the Russia.
However, dissatisfaction with the SPD did not affect the low turnout on Sunday. Out of almost 2 and a half million citizens with the right to vote, participation was 63.1 percent with a drop of 12.3 percent compared to 2021. In 2021, however, elections were also held at the same time as the administrative elections federal that usually attract more voters.